Evaporator



Oct. 8, 1940. R. H. MONEY 2,217,257

EVAPORATOR' Filed Jan. 51, 1940 INVENTORY 0 and Hfiozeey M M h Patented Oct. 8, 1940 2,211,257 EvAPonA'ron Roland 11. Money, Mount Healthy, Ohio, assignor to The Crosley Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application January 31, 1940, Serial No. 316,613

10 Claims. (01. 62- 126) illustrated in Figure 5. The sheets I and 2 areside walls 4 This invention relates to refrigeration equipment, and more particularly to a novel cooling element or evaporator unit for use in mechanical household refrigerating apparatus.

- 5 An object of the invention is to provide an evaporator unit having an ice freezing compartment and a storage compartment for foods or other substances arranged side by side.

Another object of the inventionis to provide a shelf in the ice freezing compartment which is directly cooled by the refrigerant.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sheet metal evaporator unit in which the refrigerant is first passed through a coil to cool a shelf of the unit and is then passed between the sheets constituting the walls of said unit.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an evaporator which is-simple in construction, efficient in operation, compact, rugged, and go comparatively cheap to manufacture.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

95 Figure 1 is a front elevational view of an evaporator unit constructed in accordance with the,

principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a right side view of the evaporator unit;

Figure 3 is a left side view 01. the unit;

unit; 7

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1 and particular-ly illustrating the arrangement of the cooling coil provided for the shelf in the ice-freezing passageways, etc.. for a refrigerant, as will be 2 is preferably secured to the inner sheet I at 5 its edges by bending the marginal portions I 'of Figure 4 is a bottom view of the evaporator the inner sheet over upon the outer sheet, as best bent to U-form to provide vertical and 4' for the evaporator unit.

A storage compartment S, forfood or'other materialyis formed in the evaporator unit by a sheet of metal 3 bent to form a right angle and mounted in theright end portion of the body B. An ice freezing compartment F is formed between the vertical wall 4 and the upright leg 5 of the sheet 3. A shelf 6 is interposed between the walls 4 and 5 and is provided along its left edge with ears 1 adapted to be secured to the wall 4 of the body by rivets 8. The opposite edge of the shelf 5 is bent downwardly to form a vertical wall 9, and a horizontal flange I0 is provided at the lower end of said wall and is secured to the bottom portion of the evaporator body by rivets II.

The forward end of the shelf 6 is reve'rsely bent as 'indicated'at l2 to present a rounded edge. The rear' portion ,of the shelf 6 is curved upwardly to provide a stop 13 for any tray which may be supported by said shelf. The'shelf 6 may be said to subdivide the ice freezing compartment F into a lower chamber I4 and an.

upper chamber [6. In order to adapt the lower chamber M for the reception of aplurality of trays, slides inthe form of strips of angle iron 18 are mounted in said compartment, one upon the wall 4 of the evaporator and the other upon vertical portion -9 depending from the shelf 6. The slides or angle irons are secured to the walls 4 and 9 by rivets 20.

The storage compartment S is provided with a shelf 22 extending crosswise thereof vand from end to end of the evaporator unit B. The shelf- 22 is provided with flanges 23 and 24 along its opposite longitudinal edges; the flange 24 being secured by rivets 25 to the'vertical side wall 4' of the body B, and the opposite flange 23 being secured to the depending wall 9 of the shelf 6 by bolts 26 which pass through and also provide fastening means for securing the vertical wall 5 of the sheet 3 in position in the evaporator unit. The sheet-3, inaddltion to being provided with the vertical wall portion 5. has a horizontal wall portion 5. The rear edges of the walls I and!" are provided with flanges 28 and 30 bolted to a, rear closure plate 32 by bolts 34, as best shown in Figures 1 and 5. The bottom edge of the clo-' sure wall 32 is provided with a flange 36 secured to the bottom of the evaporator unit B by rivets 38. The closure plate 32 is also provided with a flange '40 along its. right hand edge and'thls cured to the'vcrtical wall 4'..

The upper ends of the vertical walls 4 and 4' are connected by braces 42 and'44 adapted to also serve as supports for mounting the evaporator unit in a refrigerator.

One of the important features of the present invention is the arrangement of a cooling coil against the lower surface of the shelf 5.- The I cooling coil is best illustrated in Figures 1 and 5 wherein it will be noted that refrigerant is introduced into said coil through an end 5! thereof disposed at the rear of the evaporator unit. The refrigerant passesforwardly to the front of the evaporator unit and then travels through a tortuous path provided by bent portions 52 of the coil arranged between the front and rear ends of the shelf 6. The coil 50 may be secured to the under side of the shelf 6 by any suitable means, for example, welding 53 asillustrated in Figure 6. The shelf 6 is also provided with depressions 54 formed by shallow intersecting ribs 55 and 56. The ribs 55 and 55 serve not only to stiffen the shelf 5 but to provide cavities wherein water may collect and thus stamping of the sheets I and 2. A reduced channel 55 is formed in the outer sheet member 2 and connects the chamber 54 with a second chamber 55 formed partly in each of the sheets. The chamber 55 in turn communicates with a tortuous passage 51 formed by channels 58 in the outer sheet- 2. These channels extend transversely of the evaporator unit along the right side wall 4' thereof and along the bottom thereof, as clearly shown in Figures 2 and 4. The sheet 2, however, at the left side of the evaporator unit, is provided with a plurality of vertically extending passageways 50 which connect at their lower ends with a transverse channel portionor lower header 5| and at their upper ends with an enlarged header 62 formed by cooperating cavities The upper header 52 is in the sheets I and 2. provided with an outlet nipple 53 which may be connected to a compressor to return refrigerant thereto. It will be understood, of course, that vided therefor.

The flow of refrigerant through'the evaporator unit is as follows: Refrigerant under pressure is introduced into the inlet end 5| of the coil and it flows through the bent portions 52 along the bottom of the shelf 5 and discharges from the end 5| of the coil into the chamber 54 in the right side wall 4' ofvthe evaporator unit.. The refrigerant then continues to flow through the passage 55 and chamber 55 into the coil portion 58 along the right side 4' and bottom of the unit and thence into the lower header 5|, through the vertical passageways 50 in the left side wall I 4 into the upper header 62 and finally through the nipple 53 back to its source. I

I The refrigerant circuit described above obviously provides for "sharp freezing" in the compartment F whereby ice cubes can be quickly made, especially in a metal tray resting upon the shelf 6. .An important feature of the circuit is the flow of the refrigerant directly from the shelf 5 to the right side wall 4' of the unit to provide ample cooling for the storage compartment and the f nal flow of the expanded refrigerant thfdugh the unit by way of the multiplicity of vertical passageways 50 in the left side wall 4 of the freezing compartment, thus providing a highly efficient evaporator unit. It will be understood that the principles of the tom wall; a partition intermediate said upright side walls dividing the body into a freezing compartment and a storage compartment; and means connecting said partition to said supporting wall.

2. An evaporator comprising a body having vertical side walls connected by a horizontal bottom wall; a partition member in said body dividing the same into a freezing compartment and a storage compartment; a shelf in said storage compartment connected to said partition member and to one of the side walls of said body; a shelf in said freezing compartment connected to said par- I tition member and to the opposite side wall of said body, said freezing compartment shelf having a plurality of depressions formed therein; and a cooling coil secured to the under side of said freezing compartment shelf.

3. An evaporator comprising a body having vertical side walls connected by a horizontal bottom wall; a partition member in said body dividing the same into a freezing compartment and a storage compartment; a shelf in said storage com-'- partment connected to said partition member and to one of the side walls of said body; a shelf in said freezing compartment connected to said partition member and to the opposite side wall of saidbody; and a cooling coil secured to the under side of said freezing compartment shelf. I I 4. An evaporator unit comprising a body having vertical side portions connected at their lower ends by a bottom wall and connected together at their upper ends by braces; a shelf disposed between the side walls-of said body, one edge of said shelf being connected to one side wall of said body, the opposlte'edge of said shelf comprising a vertical wall secured tothe bottom wall of said body; and a cooling coil secured to the under side of said shelf.

5. An evaporator unit comprising a body having vertical side portions connected at their lower .,ends by a bottom wall and connected together at their upper ends by braces; a shelf disposed be-. tween the side walls of said body, one edge of said shelf being connected to one side wall of said body, the opposite edge of said shelf-comprising a vertical wall secured to the bottom wall of said body; a cooling coil secured to the under side of said shelf; and supporting members for a tray positioned below said shelf.

6. An evaporator unit comprising a body having vertical side walls connected by a bottom wall, said side and bottom walls comprising two sheets of metal provided with passageways for a refrigerant; a shelf mounted between the side walls of said body, said shelf having its rear edge turned upwardly to form a stop for a tray supported by said shelf, the front edge of said shelf being bent 5 to present a rounded edge; and a cooling coil secured to the under side of said shelf, said cooling coil having one end thereof serving as an inlet and its opposite end connected directly with the passageway in one of the side walls of said body. 7. An evaporator unit comprising a'body having vertically spaced side walls connected by a bottom wall, said body comprising two sheets of metal abutting each other and provided with passageways for a refrigerant, one of said side walls having a tortuous passageway, the other of said side walls having a lower header in communication with said tortuous passageway and a plu-' rality of vertically extending passageways extending from said lower header and terminating in a a relatively large upper header.

8. An evaporator unit comprising a body having vertically spaced side walls connected by a bottom wall, said body comprising two sheets of metal abutting each other and provided with pasg sageways for a refrigerant, one of said side walls and said bottom wall having a tortuous passageway including. transversely extending portions,

the other of said side walls having a lower header bottomwalhsaidbodycomprising two sheetsof metal abutting each otherand provided with passageways for a reirigerant, one oi. said side walls having a tortuous passageway, the other of said side walls having vertically extending passageways in communication with said tortuous pas- 5 sageway and terminating in a header; a shelf mounted in said body; ands. cooling coil disposed adjacent said shelf, one end'oi said cooling cofl constituting an inlet for a refrigerant, the other .end of said coil being directly connected with the 10 compartment and a storage compartment, said partition member comprising a vertical portion and'a horizontal portion; a plate connected to the vertical and horizontal portions of said partition member and forming a rear wall for said storage compartment; a shelf in said storage compartment connected to said partition member and to one of the side wells of said body; a shelf saidside'walls. p aomnnauoula 

